Welcome back! Thanks for recently Following Lord Trollbias. A huge shout out to my awesome reviewers Psy-Kick, Arrowtotheknee2011, Villainsfan101, and cxmgamingKR2 – these last two chapters are your treat ;) Thank you so much for the inspiration and sticking through this story.
Yup, this Finale will be a two chaptered back-to-back special! Enjoy!
Chapter 15 New Beginning
"Ah, welcome to our humbling home. It's been too long old friend." An older man welcomed as his guests were escorted within the base.
Pops smiled clasping his hand in a handshake as he was greeted by the head of the household, "Huang, I am glad you are in good health. I'm sorry for the unexpected visit."
"Nonsense, please sit." The man smiled, sitting on the chair with an underling standing behind him and a few more at the entrance of the room.
Pops nodded in thanks, taking his seat across from him. Chisaki and Kurono stood behind him, eyeing the men within the room. The old man seemed calm being surrounded by another organized crime family, as if being old friends with the Dragonhead meant any stability of an alliance. But Chisaki wasn't so trusting and he would make sure nothing would harm the Boss.
"My Fu Shan Chu told me you were out of commission; I was pleased to hear from you on being back on your feet." Huang peered slightly behind him to the man that stood there.
Chisaki tightened his jaw, ignoring the knowing look that was given to him from the second in command of the Triad clan, the Fu Shan Chu. The Fu Shan Chu dealt with most of the organization's underworldly things while the Dragonhead oversaw on the sidelines out of the enemies' radar – and the underling bastard was already trying to be a smartass. Go ahead, try to make a remark. Chisaki scowled darkly focusing on being the attentive bodyguard.
Pops coughed, not expecting news of what happened to him would have reached here, "What can I say, in this day in age all the stress isn't good. I'm sure you have heard what is happening in Japan."
"Oh yes, the whole system collapsing, I don't blame you for leaving…It was much simpler back in the good old days." Huang sighed reminiscing on the past before quirks and heroes got more popular.
"I agree, back then was simpler indeed. I came by today to pay my respects to my neighbors and to let you know I will be taking up residency in the Hassaikai's outpost."
Huang pondered, "I believe it is still standing, can't say for sure. I've heard there are some hoodlums taking residency there since it has been vacant for decades."
"Hoodlums you say?" Pops peered slightly at Chisaki, wondering if the boy expanded to the outposts in his takeover, "I admit, throughout the years I've become lenient and the outposts became estranged." Pops admitted.
Kai scowled, he was aware of their few outposts throughout different countries, he even attempted to utilize some of the outposts to distribute product – Taiwan being one of them. Those pieces of trash better not have messed up the outpost.
"Yes… apparently some questionable characters were hanging around it, got some of my men nervous."
Pops frowned, hearing the concern, "I assure you, the outpost will not cause you anymore concern. Isn't that right Chisaki?"
Kai bowed, "If there is anyone that opposes you, I will eliminate them Boss."
The Triad studied Chisaki, seeing the burning bloodlust within the gold eyes on that promise – daring anyone to go against them.
Huang smirked, "I wish you luck on reclaiming your residency. Let me know if there is anything you need, especially if you need work, I will be more than happy to find some work for your men."
"The Dragonhead was in a chatty mood." Kurono remarked lightly as Chisaki and him followed Pops out of the Triad compound.
Kai narrowed his eyes, "He's testing the waters on our capability, to see just how far off we are."
Pops overheard their conversation, "So quick to be suspicious…" The younger men stood attentive as the old man turned to them, "But your concern is sound, Huang likes to know everything that goes on around in his territory. But we need to tread carefully, he is a great ally for us to allude the authorities, disrespect him, and we will have that power turn onto us."
"Sir, why announce our arrival if we could have gone unnoticed at the outpost?" Kurono asked warily.
Pops smiled, "Sometimes it is best to reveal a deterrent to neighbors before any issues can arise."
I'm glad he is taking my presence as that deterrent. I will ensure our survival. Kai was pleased his ruthlessness actually brought some positivity to the old man with being on uncharted territory.
The old man added, "Their second in command seemed to be acquainted with you Chisaki, I didn't miss that expression on his face."
"We've done some business together in the past with exporting their product overseas." Kai responded.
"And these hoodlums at the outpost, are they your men? I hope they haven't caused too much issues with the Triad." Pops was concerned that Chisaki had overstepped onto territory that wasn't theirs.
Kai frowned, to be honest he didn't take much notice to the pawns, once they run their course of usefulness, he would move onto the next thing. "If they are, they've been acting on their own since the fall of the Hassaikai. Returning should put them back in line, I can give you the results we need."
Pops studied him, knowing what he meant. "Regaining members should be our top priority, please keep the damage to the bare minimum Chisaki."
Kai bowed, "Of course sir." He gazed up with a burning ember in his eyes, "I will reestablish the ranks for you, Boss."
Pops nodded, "Get it done. Kurono, we are going to move the ship to the docks closer to the outpost."
Kai watched as Pops and Kurono crossed the street to head to the harbor. He's counting on me… He smirked slightly, regaining some esteem. His gold eyes stared towards the mountains near the ocean seeing the cluster of homes. He hoped for the men's sake, they were willing to bow down to order again… it will make his job so much quicker.
He scowled noticing the outpost looked like a frat party ran through it. Glad Pops is not here to see how shitty the house looks. Kai walked through the front gate, disgusted by how trashy the lawn looked. I'm going to kill them. Rage ran through him as the door was unguarded and unlocked. He strode through the living room noticing articles of clothing discarded around the place. Seething at the disregard of someone else's home, his eyes burned with more disgust, before him was a fucking orgy.
He turned on the stereo, music blasted throughout the living room scaring the people that were once sleeping intertwined together. The women gave him confused, angry looks while the men paled on seeing the raging gold eyes. "I want this place spotless. The party is over, all you women get out."
"Nothing for a year and you expect to come back here and order us around?" One man remarked stepping forward in defiance, the others in the living room scurried back seeing the dangerous gaze. The women hurriedly collected their clothing and scampered towards the front door.
Kai scowled at the naked fool that spoke, he stepped forward grabbing the man by the neck – the man screamed as the skin and muscles were slowly deconstructing. "Now, when I say to do something, you are expected to do it."
The man's screams were silenced when the throat was completely deconstructed. Blood splattered within the room as the man's head popped like a balloon, the body fell with a thud onto the ground, the exposed neck cavity reddened the floor. The others within the room screamed in horror at the sight before them, even the women who didn't fully leave screeched at the gory sight.
Gold eyes scowled darkly noticing the mess that was starting to expand around the floor. With ease, Kai reverted the damage, the man's head reconstructed and was gasping for air. Unpleased by the need to enforce authority, he threw the revived man across the living room.
"This can go two ways, obedience or death. Now get started in cleaning all of this filth, the oyabun will be residing here." Kai cleaned his hands before the hives could get worse.
The urgency was known as the men ran to clean the house. Kai sighed running his hand through his hair to calm himself before he decided to break all of them down continuously to the point of where they would be completely submissive puppets. Scowling, he made his way to the lawn, figuring the idiots would forget the first thing the Boss would see when coming here. This is beneath me – He ignored the thought as he picked up the trash around the lawn, needing to get this done so the outpost would be in a move-in ready condition for the old man.
It was a taxing trip, Pops barely slept on the ship – he was stubborn, wanting to man the wheel on his own and Kai kept him company, studying nonchalantly on captaining to force the old man to sleep. Emotions weren't Kai's strong suit, but when it comes to others, he was very observant in reading people. Pops was holding himself together considering everything… He doesn't let his depression or defeat show so easily – Kai didn't blame him. Showing that weakness wasn't Boss-like, and perhaps some part of Pops deep down feared to show any sign of weakness to prevent anyone from thinking that he was unable to lead after the hardships, but Kai will make sure Pops will succeed in restoring the clan.
I'm going to make sure the embers ignite for the Yakuza, the fire will not be so easily smothered… Pops was forced to sacrifice everything, heading blindly through the next obstacle and had to involuntarily put his wellbeing within his and Kurono's hands again… Kai gritted his teeth, it pissed him off that they were out in the open – susceptible to enemies and even Pops was cautious of their image to their neighbors… Worried to be seen as weak, but Kai will make sure to quench the Boss's worries by reestablishing the qualities as to why he was put as second in command.
"Chisaki, sir… the house is cleaned."
Kai's glare shifted to the underling as he dumped the litter into the trash bin, "Good, you all aren't as incompetent as I thought. Show me."
The underling bowed, avoiding eye contact, as he turned to escort the Yakuza. The atmosphere around the man was heavy, suffocating with the evident rage – the underling wanted to stay clear from that ticking time bomb.
Gold eyes took in every slightest detail to inspect if the house was deemed clean enough for Pops. His gaze shifted to where the bedrooms were, "The oyabun's room, has it been disturbed?"
The underling paled, uncertain by that, "I'm not sure –."
Kai grabbed the underling by the neck, scowling darkly as whimpers escaped from the frantic man, "For your sake, it shouldn't be." He threw the man down the hall, and continued to follow the panicked underling towards the room.
Bowing persuasively as he opened the door to show Chisaki. The room seemed as though it hadn't been touched in years with dust collecting the furniture. Studying the room for anything notably different, Chisaki turned his gold gaze towards the sweating underling, "Clean off the dust, nothing else."
Kai turned away, heading towards the back entrance, expecting Pops and Kurono to be anchored by now at the boat dock down the pathway. The other four underlings froze, bowing as he passed. Stopping slightly, he remarked, "Follow, the oyabun will need assistance disembarking."
He ignored the nervous shuffles behind him as he walked down the slightly overgrown path to the dock. Making mental notes to clear the pathway for better sightlines towards the cove, he would need to ensure the perimeter was up to date with its security, especially since they were low in bodies. I think the old man would be pleased to have the additional five bodies. Kai approached the clearing seeing the boat, Kurono was already unloading items on the dock.
Kurono's attention focused on them as they reached the dock, "All in one piece?"
Kai scowled at the comment and ignored it as his gaze went to Pops. The underlings bowed in respect as the old man stepped off the boat and studied the new faces.
"The house is ready for you, sir." Kai bowed.
Pops patted Kai's shoulder, "Good, my tired bones are looking forward to the sauna."
Kai lowered his gaze, "Yes sir, we will get the luggage and one of the men will prepare the sauna." His gold gaze settled on one of the underlings, "You, go. The rest of you, grab what you can and bring it to the house."
The underling bowed nervously, running back to the outpost house while the others shifted to pick up the items that were brought from Japan. Pops attempted to carry an item; Kai swiftly picked up what the old man was going for.
Pops sighed, "I'm not feeble, Chisaki."
Kai turned his head to address the old man that decided to walk with him up the path to the house, "I never said that, what are subordinates for but to pave the way for you? You don't need to strain yourself any further."
"Spoken as though you can dictate what I choose to do…" Pops hummed eyeing the underlings that carried things ahead of them.
Kai lowered his eyes, "I didn't mean to overstep, sir… I just don't want you to overburden yourself considering how much you've been through and the difficulties you had to face that were out of your control."
Pops considered his words, "Chisaki, I appreciate your concern. But I raised you to know your place on voicing opinions amongst different hierarchies, you are not the self-appointed oyabun anymore and your bad habit of misplaced opinions will continue to cause issues."
It burned him on the truth that rang in the old man's words, it was due to his arrogance and lack of consideration of leaders from other groups that cost him his arms… Pops was warning him of his unchecked familiarity and tone towards speaking to leaders, especially around subordinates. "I understand, sir. You are right on my disregard for authority and inability for civil exchanges of pleasantries amongst other leaders. I will do better and make sure no issues will fall onto you due to my lack of addressing the order of hierarchy."
"I know I don't have to remind you of the difference of saying verses doing."
Kai nodded, remembering the numerous times Pops scolded him due to discipline. "No sir, you don't need to tell me again."
Kai hummed in thought as he walked through the market place, attempting to decipher the Mandarin signs. He was a bit rusty on the language, surprisingly he could get by in simple conversations, but writing and reading in the language was throwing him off by the characters.
He sighed, he wanted to clear his head and figured to run some errands for Pops. He wanted to get himself situated with the locals and landmarks. Kai ignored the itchiness of his hives with the anxiety of being in public with people – trying to reason with himself that the mysophobia had to break, it needed to be gone to be better suited for Pops. He couldn't afford to have a meltdown by being surrounded by uncleanliness – he had survived worse when he was deprived by his arms and had to endure the nomadic lifestyle of not regularly showering, lacking in the ability to change clothes, and Eri touching him to tend to his wounds and clothes… He will not let his mind fall back to the extreme anxiety of breathing the same air as these people. Scowling at the hives that broke under his long sleeve shirt, Ridiculous, it is all in the mind – I did not survive all that filth just to go back to being unhinged by the mere proximity of people…
Kai narrowed his eyes noticing a familiar smug face, he ignored the Triad's second in command to continue on with his task before the bastard could say anything that might put them at odds.
"You've fallen so far to become a mere errand boy, eh?"
Kai gritted his teeth, holding back any hostile remarks that could break the steady alliance between the Shie Hassaikai and Triad, "I figured I would get myself acquainted with the locals and markets."
The Triad grinned, "Is that so?"
Kai scowled at the ridiculous rhetorical question, continuing down the market place to finish his shopping list.
"Is there any chance we will be getting any more of those intriguing bullets you'd sold to us in the past?" The Triad trailed him, just outside of arm's reach.
Kai stopped, getting reminded of the kid he let the heroes take back. The girl held up her end of the deal, Pops was healed and the decision of what came after wasn't up to him. He was aware that his test drive on the samples for distributing the imperfect bullets on the streets and to some organized groups would eventually come back to him. "No, the compound was raided and everything was confiscated."
"That's too bad, it would seem you Yakuza will have to find something else to pique our interest for us to have arrangements and business…"
Gold eyes scowled darkly, "We just settled down from displacement, are you insinuating you want to cause an issue with us right away?" Kai hated the arrogant smug expression the bastard had on his face, acting like he was untouchable. Kai held the urge to Overhaul the man right here and now, not wanting to be the one to spark a turf war. He will not cause Pops more grief, he will protect the clan – he will not throw them into chaos again, if the Triad wanted an issue it would have to be their move first.
"I'm just having a friendly chat; you can't expect to just live off our land for free without any compensation."
"Does your whole organization feel that way? What a cheap show of hospitality, and I thought you Triads had more honor." Kai shot back leveling his gold gaze with the brown, challenging the man to say another demeaning word.
The Triad's second grinned, "What can I say, the old generation is dying out – the Heads are just public relation pieces now, the real work is all run by whoever is just below them. There's eventually going to be a new way of dealing with business, just putting it out there."
Kai scowled as the man turned and waved sarcastically from behind him. What a prick, to speak so ill about his own boss. It didn't settle right with him by how openly the guy outright degraded the leaders like they were just polished figures that were deteriorating over time. Perhaps the Triad boss was really lax and had a hands-off approach, and that style of leadership is giving the second too much pride in himself.
He shook his head, not wanting to open that scar of his own arrogance to take Pops' title away from him… but he would have never spoken that disrespectfully about Pops. Yes, he had disagreed on some of the ways the old man ran things and they had some different ideologies, but he could not shake how unnerved the conversation made him feel. It felt as though he had once achieved what that Triad bastard was spewing... I am not like that; I respect Pops more than anyone. A flash of what he had put Pops through ran through his mind, I will protect him from trash like that.
Kai gritted his teeth, composing himself as he continued with his errands – he won't let the Triad's baited words get to him, either the prick was trying to initiate fear of war or a munity. The guy was flashing his power all over the place, with no care in the world on who he's disrespecting, He's going to have a rude awakening if he thinks he can just talk so boldly and expect no consequences, but I'm not going to react to it. It will have to be his move first, only then I can enact on the disrespect.
Kai suspected the Triad bastard was trying to get him to react first so they had a reason to go against the Hassaikai – the coward was all talk, didn't have the balls to straight up attack them. The guy needed the backing of the rest of the Triad, clans survived through strict rules of not initiating issues amongst other clans unless a member was assaulted. In his college years, Kai disregarded those fundamental rules playing on that line and tempted rival gangs to fight him, even to settle disagreements, and he wiped them out easily. That was how he thought was the best way to protect the clan, demonstrating his strength and kept enemies at bay. But he knew that approach wouldn't help the Yakuza now, they had to be strategic and cunning. That's why he wouldn't react to the Triad's attempt, it would be open season on the Yakuza if he attacked the established Triad in their own territory. However, due to the fundamentals of clan relations, he didn't have to worry about an attack, and he doubted that prick had the confidence to attack on his own. It was the only reason for the baited words to start a fight, with the Dragonhead being as old school as Pops, a gang war wouldn't happen just by words – more physical action against a clan would spark purpose for war. Kai smirked slightly to himself; glad his temper was better than what it used to be – he would have nailed that prick in the face with that first remark out of his mouth.
I'm going to prove to Pops I will do better; I'm not going to bullshit it by not showing it. He continued shopping, pleased with himself on the ability of pulling through on committing to bettering relations, now he just needed to recruit more bodies to reestablish a healthy number within the clan. After everything the Shie Hassaikai has been through, Kai was positive that the future would bring more promising outcomes with the new territory – a new foundation where the Yakuza can rise up again and be everything that the old man always wanted it to be…
Proceed to the Epilogue!